Thoughts on the craft of family history and genealogy, and random reflections on some of the things that flash like stars across Memory’s mirror. Oh, yeah...books and archives, too!

Wednesday, May 2, 2012

Triple-Washed Veggies, Old Erie Canal Style

Earlier today, in preparation for
tonight’s salad, I cut open my bag of Trader Joe’s radicchio - romaine - butter
lettuce mix and noticed in the process that it proudly proclaimed to be “triple
washed.”

Normally, I wouldn’t have even
noticed that kind of hype or given it a second thought, but I had just finished
reading the 1910 Annual Report of the New York State Department of Health, and
the section from the state’s Hygienic Laboratory was still in my memory.

Washing produce before its sale to
make it more attractive to the consumer has been going on for a long time, but
not always in the best of conditions.
Moreover, food inspection of any kind by government is a relatively recent thing, all things considered. While colonial governments were concerned about short-weighting, actual food quality wasn't much to be concerned about.

Here’s the section of the Report that stuck in my memory, mostly because the geographic area referred to is just a few miles from where many of my ancestors lived:

Sir:—Under date of May
21st, the attention of your Department was called to the washing of vegetables
by truck gardeners in the water of the Erie canal, between Troy and Albany.
This complaint was received by you on May 23d and transmitted to Inspector
Number [___ ], with your instructions to
investigate that matter on the following day.

Your inspector called upon the gentleman
making this complaint, but was unable to find him at home. He accordingly
proceeded to the direct investigation of the subject-matter.

He found that it is a constant practice and has been for some time for
a number of truck gardeners to wash vegetables in the water of the Erie canal
at various places, which vegetables they subsequently supply to the markets of
Troy and Albany.

In particular at a point in the canal near
Schuyler bridge, spinach was seen by your inspector to be washed and his
investigation showed that this spinach was the property of a Mr. Beattie, who
had built a wooden rack pen in the canal, into which pen vegetables to be
washed were thrown from a wagon with forks; and after remaining in this pen,
submerged with water, were taken out with the forks and thrown upon the bank
to drain. They were subsequently loaded on to wagons, which wagons as a matter
of custom usually left his residence from two to three in the morning to arrive
at the Troy market at an early hour the following day.

At
the time of this inspection a number of boys were in swimming at this place and
samples of the water of the canal were taken at this time for examination at
the laboratory.

In this vicinity also another pen, in which
spinach, lettuce and onions were washed, was found existing in the canal,
stated to be the property of O'Leary, a truck gardener who conveyed the most of
his produce to Troy and also to the Albany market.

Another installation of the same sort served for the washing of
products, the property of a man named Keys, who sold this produce at Troy.

At another point a similar installation
belonging to Mr. O'Brien, was found; he washed practically all of his green
produce in this way; at the time he was washing spinach, lettuce and onions and
he sold all of this produce both in Troy and Albany.

Another installation was visited belonging to a Mr. Mattimore, where
the actual washing of thirteen barrels of spinach, three of lettuce and a
quantity of onions were seen and the two sons of this proprietor were
interrogated. They stated it to be the usual custom to wash green produce here
in this way; that after the produce remained in the water for some half hour or
more, it was removed therefrom with forks, allowed to drain on the banks,
subsequently loaded on to wagons and driven to the barn. From this barn the
wagons started about two or three o'clock in the morning to arrive at the
market at an early hour and sell the produce.

Another installation for washing the produce of Mr. T. Smith was also
found, where spinach and lettuce were washed, which produce it was stated was
carted early the following morning for sale at the Troy market.

Another installation opposite the farm of Mr. Clancy was said to be
used by Mr. J. Mullen of Island Park, for washing
of his green produce and a further installation was found of this nature,
utilized by Mr. Burns.

Nearer to Albany, in the rear of Altro Park, a
Mr. Burns was found to have a similar wash stand; and a Mr. Sheller and Mr.
Carmend, vendors of such products, were found in this vicinity, but these last
two were not provided with wash stands. The last three mentioned bring their
truck for sale in Albany.

This method of washing green produce has been known for a long time by
the people dwelling in that vicinity and is easily observed by passengers in
the car line running between Troy and Albany and has been so observed in actual
operation by members of the Laboratory Staff.

A report of the actual nature of the water
in this Erie canal at the time of the washing is appended.

I will not bore
you with the specific lab report on the water quality.I will not even comment on the questionable practice of
soaking vegetables in the Erie canal (with its rather exotic assortment of toxic effluents) and then letting them dry on the canal’s
banks.

Suffice it to say, it is my fervent hope that the good folks at Trader
Joe’s have found a better, cleaner, more hygienic source of water for their “triple
washing” than the early 20th century produce dealers of upstate New
York.

For those who
are familiar with the general state of cleanliness of the Erie canal in that time
period, it’s actually surprising that so many people in this area survived eating their
veggies.

A hearty bunch, those long-gone New Yorkers, who took more risks than they suspected when they decided to fix a nice vegetable side dish.

3 comments:

As someone who frequently drives by the Erie Canal I have one word. Ewww. The old saying, "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger." certainly applies in this situation. I remember seeing blue and red dye in "kill" water forty years ago from the paper plant my uncle worked at. Multiply that times a hundred and across a variety of industries. I can only imagine what that water was like.

What probably saved our ancestors was the old habit of boiling vegetables until they were soggy and soft. No one ate fresh, raw veggies and my grandparents rarely ate salad. My grandfather called such dishes "rabbit food".

Cynthia and Heather: Thanks for stopping by. It's always informative to look at ancestral foodways, especially the areas of food storage and food preparation and the evolving definition of "clean" and "sanitary." When I lived in east Africa years ago, it didn't take long to discover the consequences of *not* boiling vegetables thoroughly. Fresh fruits like strawberries and salads were off-limits for us for several years, even when we splurged for dinners in the highest quality "tourist-y" hotels.